


Without you

by RG_Mask



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Post-War, ninja au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-08 10:30:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5493959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RG_Mask/pseuds/RG_Mask
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war has been over for seven years now, the peace has finally returned.<br/>He has acquired the desired position as Hokage, but he finds out that without a certain man at his side it might be worthless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Seven years after: The beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hulloo lovely readers,
> 
> I proudly present you my story! I hope you'll find it to your liking.  
> I am sorry to say that I am not an author that updates regularly, like every Saturday. But I will update and finish this story! I promise.
> 
> You can speed up the process of writing by leaving kudos or a comment.
> 
> Do, Enjoy!!

He stares out of the window of the hokage tower; it has been five years now. His inauguration was unexpected but not unwanted at that moment. Now he wishes he’d had his priorities straight. Sure, being able to set right all wrongs in Konoha had seemed to be an amazing plan. But now he had the power, he suddenly wasn’t so sure about these changes. Exclaiming what would have to change in their society was much easier when he was just a spectator, a part of that society. Now, as the leader of his people he has to think about so much more. And things that had once seemed to be easy to change suddenly were complicated.

He had stopped trying after two months, and now just tried to lead them so that the least people would get hurt. The council had too much power, and too many wrong ideas. But he’d stopped caring. Just sign the papers and assign missions, day in day out. Visit the academy, visit the hospital, visit the construction works etc. It was clear to him now, the mighty title of Hokage, he had once looked upon was not much more that an honorary title. The real power lay by the council.  
He wished He was here, He would know what to do. And His ideals would not yield for a bunch of senior citizen. 

“Hokage, sir” Shikamaru came in. His adviser, a real strategic genius, it had helped them to win the war. But after the war? The hokage didn’t know how to use his genius. And his adviser himself hadn’t seemed to be interested in changing things. Shikamaru just wanted peace and quiet and being able to stare at the clouds and play shogi. He wasn’t interested in overthrowing the council or changing the way things go in Konoha, as that would only bring turmoil and chaos. And the hokage didn’t know how he could inspire him to use his genius. The hokage didn’t know at all how to inspire anyone, he’d never needed it, his natural charisma had always been enough.

He would have known how to motivate the people around him, He always had been able to light that spark in just anyone. The hokage wished He was here, but He wasn’t. He had disappeared shortly after their fight. When Sakura had caught up to them only he was left there, in the valley of the end. Countless search parties had been sent out, just as much parties had returned without any leads. 

“Another group has come back” The hokage didn’t dare to hope, but couldn’t help the anticipation with which he turned around to face the head of the Nara clan.  
His advisor looked apologetic. “Sorry sir, again there is no sign of him”  
“Very well” the hokage said. Not liking what he had to say next, but he knew it would be unproductive to continue the search. Seven years without so much as a squeak from Him. “Don’t sent out another party.”  
His advisors eyes widened “Sir?”  
“You heard me right. There has been no progress for the last seven years; we shouldn’t waste resources on a senseless search.”  
The Nara bowed his head in recognition of the decision and left, but the hokage didn’t miss the look of reluctance on his face. 

\--------------------------

Ikamuzu Rutoan pulled a root out of the ground and put it in a barrel. This action was repeated many more times. The sun was burning on his back and sweat was dripping down his body, his clothes were soaked. But the man didn’t seem to care. He kept working until sunset. At that moment he was called by an elderly woman standing in the door opening of a small house. He lifted the barrel on his back and made his way through the field towards the house. 

He put left his muddy boots by the door and put the barrel in the pantry. “That smells good Tamea” The elder woman huffed but smiled warmly “You say that every meal” Rutoan grinned “And it is the truth every time” 

He sat down next to the thirteen year old girl that was silently looking everywhere but at him. “Hello to you too, Tami” he said to her and the tiny nod she gave in acknowledgment almost went by him. “How was your day?” 

“It was good” the girl answered him  
“There was a bug in my room, but I didn’t freak out. I got a glass and a paper and moved him out”  
Rutoan smiled proudly and praised her full enthusiasm. 

The elderly woman watched the exchange with affection. Her granddaughter had been terrified of bugs ever since their encounter with that giant centipede. But now it seemed that her phobia had been cured. All thanks to the man that was now sitting in front of her. Eating from the small meal she had cooked. He would leave soon, breaking the routine they had built the last three weeks. She would leave too, together with her granddaughter. Back to Konoha. 

“Tamea, the last harvest here has been done. I will leave soon.” Rutoan woke her from her contemplations. “What will you do?”  
She had shared her concern about living alone in the small house with her granddaughter. They had talked about returning to Konoha. But she had been hesitant since the frightening experience when Pein had attacked. She had started to doubt the safety of living in a village, as it seemed to attract trouble. But the years of living in the forest with her granddaughter were getting to her; she doubted she would be able to provide for Tami and herself much longer. 

“I want to go back” she answered him “But I doubt the two of us could undertake the journey alone.” She didn’t want to ask this from him, but the knowledge that the welfare of her granddaughter was at stake made her desperate enough. 

He seemed to consider it for a bit, he didn’t want to return to Konoha, hadn’t planned on it. But he acknowledged that the pair wouldn’t be able to undertake this trip on their own.  
“I will escort you then.” He said “We will start packing tomorrow and see when we are ready.”  
The woman let out a breath of relieve. “Thank you, thank you so much”


	2. Help arrives in time?

The council war ruining it! Everything they had done to establish peace was thrown away when they had decided that Suna was a potential danger and that they had to send spies to the capital. What, in the name of all that is and is not holy, where they thinking. The Hokage was seething. What was the council expecting? Of course Gaara had sent them back, beheaded. The Hokage would do the same. They both had been too long without some Naruto-Uzumaki-influence and had relapsed to their natural angry state of mind. 

Yes, the hokage acknowledged that Suna was a potential danger. But no, sending spies was no way to deal with that problem. Had they learned nothing!?

And the worst of all, it was out of his hands now. The paper had somehow found out about it as soon as the bodies were brought in and now he had to deal with a lot of angry citizens demanding for retaliations. 

He wouldn’t stand for it. As long as he was hokage there would be no war in which Konoha made the first attack. But he had to give in to the fears of the council, and all shinobi were on high alert. 

“DAMN, DAMNIT!” he felt like killing something. He thought of killing the council, but dismissed it. It wasn’t worth it, becoming an outlaw again. And this time Naruto wasn’t there so safe him. Or was he? Maybe that was the solution to getting Naruto back, running away from Konoha again. Probably not. Naruto was many things, but a hypocrite not so much. 

The door opened and Shikamaru entered his demolished office. Papers were thrown around; the desk had burn marks around a hole in the center of it, obviously it had suffered a chidori attack, and in the middle of the destruction stood a heavy breathing Hokage.

“Nara! Why didn’t I know of this! And whose idiotic idea was it to send spies so Suna?!”

“Sorry sir, I also knew of nothing”

“Bullshit”

“I beg you pardon? I would have told you if I knew, Sasuke, I’m no idiot. I know what happens when you sent spies to Suna. Besides, a war with Suna is the last I would desire. As you should be aware, my marriage is in danger now.” 

No, Sasuke hadn’t thought of that at all, but that didn’t matter. What mattered now was how they were going to settle this problem.  
“Has there been contact with Gaara yet? Apart from the severed heads?” he asked more calmly now.  
“There has not” Shikamaru sighted while he settled down in one of the two chairs that was still standing. 

 

Finally they could make out the gates of Konoha, Tami began to squeak. 

“Look, granny, look! They rebuilt everything!” 

The elder woman smiled at her “So it seems”

The man next to her was silent and she eyed him warily. She knew who he was. She didn’t understand the reason behind his antipathy towards Konoha, she never asked, but she was happy he was with her today. She felt save with him by her side. 

With clear blue eyes he watched the gates come closer. His long blond hair put together in a disorganized bun held by a scarlet colored ribbon with a bell on each end. The wind blew through the bells and they produced a pleasant noise.  
The skin of his face was tanned by the sunlight, surrounding his eyes and mouth were hints of wrinkles, but the good kind, the ones that derive from laughing a lot. His skin is rough; hardened by the wind, but there are no scars anywhere except for three whisker like marks on each cheek.  
His body is packed in multiple pieces of clothing. Most invisible because of the moss green cloak that comprises most of his body.

He sighted softly; it had been seven years since he’d last seen those gates. He didn’t know if he was happy or sad to return to the place he had called home for so many years. He doubted he was ready to face his past friends. 

He was well aware that he had hurt them by disappearing without a trace, but he also knew that he was in need of some distance from Konoha for a while. 

To create that distance he hadn’t kept tabs on the occurrings in Konoha, it had been difficult. Occasionally he heard rumours, and his curiosity would almost get the better of him. Fortunately Kurama was there and stopped him from investigating it further. He didn’t want to have anything to do with Konoha for a while, and he knew that when he would investigate the rumours he would return. 

But now it was time. Not only had he heard some worrisome rumours, he also felt his self assigned mission was done. He was finally at peace with himself and everything that happened. 

Approaching the gates of Konoha however a dreadful feeling settled in his stomach. The gates of Konoha were not closed, but it came close to it. There were a lot of ninja, visible and invisible to the naked eye, walking around and everybody seemed on high alert. 

Rutoan withdrew his chakra to a point that his reserves were as big as those of a normal civilian. Anymore and he could be seen as a potential danger, any less and they would immediately know he was a ninja. Yes, he was coming back, but his return would be on his own accord.

With a tiny jutsu that used almost no chakra he changed the colour of his eyes to brown and hid his whiskers. 

They drove towards the gates until they were stopped by a pair of ninja. Rutoan almost grinned when he recognized his favourite gate keepers, but kept it in, he didn’t want to give his identity just yet. 

First he wanted to find out the situation and then act accordingly.


	3. Ramen

“Name and business” Kotetsu said, bored. Being gate guard for years does that to you. He barely looked up to see the appearance of the travellers; their chakra levels had already told him they were not dangerous and if their exterior should be worrisome his colleagues spread in the woods would have already alerted him. 

“Rutoan Ikamuzu, I bring along two former Konoha citizens who have been living in exile for awhile now. They wish to return to live inside the walls of Konoha.” 

“Very well. Names? And will you be staying too?”

“Tamea, and my grand daughters’ name is Tami” The elderly woman replied. 

The guard wrote their names down. “And mister Ikamuzu, will you be staying too?”

“Would it be okay if I get back to you on that?” The man asked with a grin “I’m not so sure myself, I might stay for a while, but it is also very possible that I will leave again tomorrow.” 

This had Kotetsu looking up. He wondered if his fellow ninja had made a mistake in their assessment of this man. Someone who lived such a life is certainly suspicious. However, he soon came to the conclusion that his colleagues wouldn’t have been able to obtain information about the man’s’ lifestyle by his appearance. 

“What is your business in Konoha then, mister, if you do not know the duration of your stay?” 

Curiously the man seemed to give an appreciating nod. “I have been a citizen of Konoha myself; I might be interested in living here again. But I’d like to determine if the current situation is to my liking first.”

“Fair enough” Kotetsu slipped while writing his name down. Izumo gave his friend a stern glare and took over the conversation.

“We will let you in mister Ikamuzu, but we will be expecting you to get back at us in two days.”  
After man gave them a blinding smile and thanked them before moving on with the lady and her granddaughter, Izumo told his partner to put the name ‘Rutoan Ikamuzu’ on the list of slightly suspicious visitors that should be looked further into. 

\--- 

Rutoan dropped Tamea and Tami of in one of Konoha’s inns and promised to meet them there again the next morning. They were warm heartedly received and the inn master had enthusiastically offered to bring them in contact with a real estate agent he knew. 

Rutoan himself also rented a room, but he didn’t plan on using it. He had planned to pay an old friend a visit tonight. 

\--- 

Sasuke Uchiha was irritated, the whole situation with Suna was a big mess and he didn’t know how to solve it. Gaara had been hostile towards Konoha since Naruto had disappeared; he seemed to blame Konoha and Sasuke in special for the boy’s disappearance. And the spies the council had sent had aggravated the conflict . So of course he refused to meet anyone from Konoha. Resulting that the council and Sasuke didn’t know where they stood, and with the spies eliminated they had no way of monitoring the movement of Suna’s ninja. 

The whole situation had Sasuke so agitated that he had stomped out of his office like a disgruntled child and had come here. It was one of the few places that could calm him nowadays. Slurping from a bowl of ramen noodles he cooled down. 

It had him thinking about his childhood friend, this noodle stand. These days he tried to refrain from thinking about him most of the time, sorry that they never talked about their differences after the war. Sure they had fought, but that could only resolve a part of their clash, Naruto’s disappearance soon afterwards hadn’t helped either. He looked at his new arm, required by the council, and thought about his friend. He wondered if he had managed to grow a new arm with those freak healing abilities of his, or if he wandered around nowadays, with only one arm. IF he was wandering, Sasuke still had a slight suspicion that the hero had been captured or something like that, he only didn’t know who would have captured the boy, and he thought that they had disposed of all possible treats. 

But it didn’t matter anymore, he reasoned. Naruto wasn’t here anymore, and probably wouldn’t be here again for a long time. It wouldn’t do to stay in the past. He could better use that energy to find a solution for the problems at hand. 

Naruto would probably have known…

He quickly stopped that train of thought and got up. He was hokage now, not his friend. The question was not what Naruto would do, but what he would do. And he would make sure the council would never pull a trick like this again. First he would deal with the insubordination of the council, then he would handle the foreign affairs.

\--- 

As Rutoan arrived at his destination he brushed past a man with the recognizable robes of a hokage. However, he held his curiosity in check as to whom the new hokage was and entered the delicious smelling stall. 

“One miso ramen please” he asked the woman behind the counter  
She wrote down his order and smiled at him and in that moment he recognized the girl that had always been so kind to him when he was younger. He flashed back one of his warmest smiles.

When the soup arrived he indulged himself in the delicious taste of the dish, Tamea had also made terrific ramen, but nothing could top the experience of eating it in setting of this stall. The smell, the sounds of stainless steel against stainless steel, the view of how the noodles where made while waiting for them, the hospitality of the owner and his daughter. This might have been what he missed most about Konoha.

When he left the stall satisfied he left a sizable tip.


	4. Not much happens (sorry)

Rutoan sauntered past the many boutiques of Konoha stopping by the Yamanaka flower shop. Initially he only peeked inside, but when he didn’t recognize the girl inside he entered the store. 

“How can I help you?” the girl at the counter asked him when he entered the shop and a bell softly tinkled. 

“I’m looking for some Gladioli” he said while taking in the broad spectrum of colours inside the flower shop. He grinned when he noticed the bright orange Gladioli just a bit left of the counter. 

“Actually, I think I’ve found them” he said with a grin “I’d like a dozen of those orange ones you got there.” He pointed towards the flowers he meant.

The girl seemed to be searching for a bit before beaming at him “excellent choice! I will get them for you, do you want a fancy wrapping? We have a few lovely ones.” She glanced at him waiting for his answer.

“No it’s okay, no wrapping please” Rutoan answered while the girl stretched to get to the flowers. He wondered if he should help a hand because she seemed to have difficulties reaching it. But before he could say anything she had gotten a small stool and grabbed the flowers.  
She then put a piece of string around the stems and handed them over, brushing her hands slightly against his. 

“That’ll be 72 ryo please”

He fished some ryo from his pocket and gave it to her.

“Thank you very much”

And then he left the colourful store. 

When he arrived at the memorial the sun was just setting and the golden light clarified the names on the upper side of the stone. In the background birds were singing and Cycladi were chirping, a feeling of calm fell over Rutoan while he took it all in. A lump settled in his throat, he took a step closer to the memorial and stretched his arm to trace one of the names. A lot more names were carved into the memorial than were when Rutoan last saw it. But that had been a long time ago. Fighting his tears he set a step back and laid down the flowers. Then with a cold evening breeze he was gone. 

\---

When one would look up at Hokage Mountain that night they would notice that one of the hokage had grown a rather impressive wrath on his nose, when looking a bit better, one would identify the bumb as a person. Some of the elder Konohan villagers might even remember the sight from a long time ago. Conveniently, not many looked up at Hokage Mountain that night, for even though it was almost summer the nights were cold and a thin mist had spread in the village. Ergo, not many villagers were outside that night.

The man looked over the village with a hint of nostalgia, he held no illusions, not anymore. He allowed himself to see the beauty that lay in the village as well as the despicable. He had learned to accept that in order to love something he didn’t need to close his eyes to the ugly parts of it. He could love his village as it was and at the same time desire to change it.  
He despised Konoha for closing their eyes to the traumas of their citizen after the war. He detested them for not learning of past mistakes. He loathed them for the way they had behaved when he grew up. 

But he had let it go. A new area had arisen, he had done his task outside of Konoha and now he would start his duty to the village, in which he had grown up as an outcast but had been welcomed back into, later, as a hero.

He looked back to the village, searching for his apartment building, only to remember it wasn’t there anymore since the village had been leveled by Pein. On one hand he was relieved, now nobody would have to live there anymore, on the other hand he felt a sting of pain when almost all that he memorized was gone now.  
They had rebuild Konoha, he could recognize a few places, most buildings were entirely new for him though. But the training fields were at the same place as they had always been. With his enhanced vision he could just make out three familiar tree trunks. He knew they weren’t the same he remembered. But they were enough to ease him a bit. He made a note to visit them tomorrow.

He stood up and dove of the nose of the fourth hokage, landing silently on the street below. With no further detours he walked to the inn, where he checked in and laid down on the bed.

\---

The next morning found Rutoan at the roof of the inn watching the sun rise from behind the hokage monument. He allowed himself to get lost a bit in his memories before he would face the day. When the sun had risen above all Hokages’ heads he went downstairs to have breakfast and hopefully meat Tamea and Tami.

He did indeed meet them there, already in a conversation with a man Rutoan didn’t recognize. That would be the real estate agent. He gathered some food on his plate and sat down at the table, making the occupants look up. 

“Good morning” He told them before nudging the agent to go on “please continue what you were talking about, I’m with them”

The man continued.

The rest of the morning was spent finding a suitable apartment for Tamea and Tami. Rutoan took this as an opportunity to familiarize himself with the new buildings in Konoha.

Just before lunchtime they found a small house close to the Hyuuga district that perfectly fitted Tamea and Tami’s needs. It had been a cabin in which a care taker of the Hyuuga children had lived, and it had once been property of the Hyuuga clan. But now they’d had no use for it anymore and had decided on selling it. There would be certain terms to be met, but the real estate agent had faith that the pair would meet them. He had looked uncertain at Rutoan, who then had assured him that he didn’t intend to live with the pair.


	5. Lee's Hatchlings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A fast update here because I realize that the last chapter was really uneventful.

Chapter 5

That afternoon Tamea and Tami were invited to the Hyuuga clan house to discuss the details of the trade. Rutoan, for obvious reasons, didn’t join them. Instead he headed towards the training fields in hope of seeing some of his former friends. He wondered if some would have their own team by now. He would love to see the stuck up bastard with a team of most annoying little kids. 

It was not Sasuke who he saw that afternoon. Thinking about it later, it was only fitting that this member of their rookie year would have a team of his own. But at the moment he was a bit terrified because right in front of him where three little ninja in green clad body suits. They even had the bowl cut to complete the outfit. Seeing a bowl cut in a colour other than black weirded him out. The blonde one the most. 

The kids were onto him the moment he entered the training field. 

“FOR THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH I WILL CHALLENGE YOU, STRANGER” one had screamed, directly followed by another yell: 

“I SAW HIM FIRST! I WILL CHALLENGE YOU VISITOR” 

Then he felt one coming in from the right “I CHALLENGE YOU, WANDERER”

Rutoan stepped away from the attack and the little guy slammed into the ground. Raising one eyebrow he waited for some kind of explanation. The kids, noticing his look stared at the ground and fidgeted with their hands.

“uuhm” the blonde kid began. The other one continued “w-would you, perhaps, maybe, uuh” he waited for the third one to take over. “Fight us, so we can, uh, train” 

Rutoan smiled “don’t you have a master for that?” 

“Yes, but we won’t defeat him if we only train with him” 

Rutoan decided that he liked the spirit of Lee’s ducklings and since he had not planned to do much else today “Sure, I’ll fight you”

Then, in the blink of an eye the rookies were gone. Rutoan grinned

“Brats, we didn’t even set rules. But I’ll assume at least one of you can hear me. You will try to obtain the bells that are tied in my hair, you’ll have till your master returns. If you manage to retrieve one of my bells I’ll take you to dinner, if you don’t, you’ll take me to dinner, and I’ll warn you, I can eat quite a lot.” 

Actually Rutoan was sure the brats could hear him. With his Kyuubi enhanced sentences it was not difficult to pick up on the exact location of the kids. But he’d let them come after him. He pretended to be looking around for them when he felt the girl speeding towards him. From the other side, with a little later timing, one of the boys moved towards him. They worked like a team, unlike some rookies he knew. He entertained the girl by letting her attack him. He blocked all attacks and occasionally threw in a small punch that she would be able to easily evade. Then the other kid was upon them and Rutoan had to sidestep towards the girl who at that moment launched an attack. Quickly he took another step and both strikes missed. Then the third brat came from above. He had apparently climbed a tree and from there launched his attack; stretching his little arms towards Rutoan’s bun. 

When he also evaded that attack the kids vanished again. 

A few minutes later the Lee duplicates launched out of a nearby bush, engaging in the fight with Rutoan at the same time. The raven one in particular had an impressive set of kicks. Rutoan indulged them for a bit, blocking and throwing light punches. 

Suddenly he felt himself being lifted up at his ankles. He realized he had underestimated the hatchlings when he hung upside down in the air, a rope around his ankle. 

“HA HA, YOU WALKED RIGHT INTO OUR TRAP”

“GRAP THOSE BELLS!” 

But they hadn’t expected the sudden gust of wind that gave Rutoan just the boost he needed to grab onto the tree and lifting himself up, he threw a shuriken at the rope. The kids hadn’t sat still though, within few seconds they were upon him again.

Rutoan blocked and threw light punches and kicks at intervals, this went on until a green clad man came in with a flying kick. Rutoan, who couldn’t evade it if he didn’t want to give up his cover, was sent flying through the air.

“DO NOT FEAR MY YOUTHFULL PUPILS FOR YOUR MASTER HAS COME TO SAFE THE DAY” 

Rutoan let himself roll through the dirt, getting up at a relatively safe distance from Lee and positioned himself in a defensive stance. Luckily the little pups hurried down to their master and explained the situation. Lee then proceeded to apologise to Rutoan for the next ten minutes. 

Eventually they managed, with collective effort, to calm Lee down. When he was finally calmed down he demanded to have a sparring match with Rutoan. 

“I am very sorry but I’ll have to turn that down, your students here promised me dinner, and besides I am no ninja, I would not be able to provide you with an equal in taijutsu.” 

The hatchlings groaned, having hoped that the stranger would have forgotten about that. But to their relief Lee interrupted. 

“I will also pay with them, to apologise once more.” 

Rutoan shrugged, not minding this at all. 

“I’m fine with that, as long as I have dinner”


	6. Dinner with Lee and his Hatchlings

Together the company walked towards the centre of Konoha where the restaurant was located. They walked through the main street that was full of activity. The sides of the road were littered with small food stands and cramped stores. The atmosphere was better than it had been before the war. 

But that could also be just Naruto’s perception. The villagers had never accepted him, making Naruto’s life a lot less happy than it could have been. He never had any chance at being part of the social life in the village.

After a while they arrived at a relatively large, green-painted building. Above the front door was a lighted sign which read; ‘Yakiniku_Q’.

From the inside shone light through the large windows that were present all around the store. Deriving out of the slightly opened doors were soft murmurs from customers. And a soft tune of traditional music could be heard.

Lee was the first to enter the diner, after him came his hatchlings who surrounded Rutoan. They were greeted by the delicious smell of grilled flesh.   
A woman with buns on either side of her head greeted them.

“Lee! Long-time no see!” 

Lee hugged her and smiled “Don’t blame me! I am not the one that is never in Konoha lately.”

The woman laughed “True. Come and take a seat with Ino, Choji and me.” 

Lee paused for a moment “I’d love to but I’m not alone here. I brought my most youthful students and this youthful traveller with me.”

Tenten eyed them for a moment and then said “That’s okay, there is enough room on our table.” 

When they arrived at the table Lee’s ducklings jumped on the seat, fighting who got to sit next to Ino. Rutoan watched them with amusement while sitting himself down opposite of Choji. He nodded his head at the big man and introduced himself 

“Hello, I am Rutoan, pleasure to meet you.” 

The man nodded back “Nice to meet you, my name is Choji, and this is Ino and Tenten. If I may ask, how did you meet Lee?” 

That was the moment duckling number one (the one with the blonde hair) interjected.

“We fought him Uncle Choji!” 

“YES! He walked across our training field so we did what every honourable youth should do and challenged him for a fight.” Duckling number two added.

Ino smiled softly at them “and? Did you win?” 

Duckling number one gasped.

“Do you question the ability of our youth?” Duckling number three asked in dismay.

Ino grinned “well?” she inquired.

“It was a draw” duckling number two concluded. 

Choji looked at Rutoan for confirmation. Rutoan only grinned and said “You heard them, it was a draw” 

Then Tenten, who had been talking to Lee, addressed Rutoan “Rutoan, right? Am I pronouncing your name right?” 

Rutoan nodded in confirmation.

“You’re not from around here, are you? Where are you from?” 

“I have been traveling for the past years. I was born in Konoha though and I am looking to settle down here again.”

“You were born here? You must’ve gone to the ninja academy at the same time as us then, you don’t look much older.” 

“Ah, perhaps, I do not remember much from my days in Konoha, I was quite young when I left.” 

Tenten deflated a bit at that.

“You are no ninja then?” Choji asked. 

“I consider myself a traveller. I do know some techniques, but I did never register anywhere as a ninja.”

“Yet you plan to life in Konoha, which is a hidden village? Our main export is fighting.” 

“Ah, but there are other things you need inside the village, fighting can’t provide food or repairs.” 

“That is true, but not what I meant, I am curious to your motivation for wanting to life in a ninja village while not being a ninja yourself.”

“Ah, I am afraid I won’t be able to answer that question, I suppose Konoha has always appealed to me.” 

Rutoan thought for a moment and then continued  
“But now I am here I might have some second thoughts, it seems that the village is on high alert for something? I thought there were no threats anymore?” 

The trio got a dark look on their faces. 

“There are some…. Tensions at the moment” Tenten said.

“Tensions?” Rutoan repeated. 

“You shouldn’t worry about it much, our youthful hokage will deal with it.”   
Ino casted Lee a look that Rutoan couldn’t quite decipher but she said nothing. 

A waiter came to their table to take up their orders. A bit later he came back with drinks and food. With a lot of tumult the ducklings started to grill their food on the charcoal brazier in the centre of the table. 

Rutoan was just about to grill a piece of salmon when a masked figure came to their table. “Ikamuzu Rutoan? I must ask you to come with us, please refrain from any violence.” 

“I suppose I can’t finish my dinner then?” Rutoan asked calmly while his companions watched suspiciously. 

“No sir” 

“Well, at least you are polite. Please excuse me.” Rutoan stood up and signed the woman to lead him to wherever she was planning to bring him. 

Then Ino stood up “Excuse me, Cat, where are you taking him?” 

The woman turned half around “To T&I, there is something wrong with the information he provided at the gates.”

Rutoan seemed surprised at that. “They really checked that? Things have improved then.” 

Cat didn’t respond and led him out the restaurant where another masked figure was standing. The three of them (Rutoan didn’t inform them that he was aware of the third, the fourth or the fifth ANBU following them) walked for a while until they arrived at a cold looking building. ‘Konoha Intelligence Division’ the sign said. 

Inside he was escorted to a small room devoid of any decorations. Cat told him to sit down in the seaweed green chair. He made himself as comfortable as possible on the uncomfortable chair and looked questioningly at the woman in the Cat mask. When she had watched him sit down she turned and left the room. 1926 seconds later a man came in.

He dumped a scary looking dossier on the table and sat down in front of Rutoan. 

“You told the guard at the gates your name is Rutoan Ikamuzu, correct?”

“Correct” Rutoan replied 

“And you said you didn’t know how long you would stay in Konoha, correct?”

“Yes, but-”

“Correct or not correct?” the man interrupted. 

“They told me to get back to them in two days, those days are not over yet.” 

The man cast him a disinterested look that made Rutoan wonder about the reason he was here. 

“You claimed you were born here, mister Ikamuzu, correct?”

“Correct.” Rutoan agreed, not liking where this was going.

“What would you say if I told you that we have no records of any Ikamuzu family living in Konoha?”

“Those records still exist? I am pretty sure this village was levelled to the ground.”

“They still exist, and your name is not on them. If you would now kindly tell me your real name.”


End file.
